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Nervous about starting at Michigan State? Worried about your class schedule, living away from home, or where to even start? The Spartan Orientation Station (SOS) is a podcast hosted by New Student Orientation staff and was created by students for students. This podcast will launch twice a week throughout the summer, and each episode will feature a unique interview with campus departments discussing their services, common misconceptions, and fun Spartan engagement opportunities. When you need help at Michigan State, it is okay to signal SOS! Don’t worry – MSU is there for you.
You're listening to the Spartan orientation station on Impact eighty nine FM, the podcast by students for students. Now this week's episode.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to the Spartan orientation station. On this week's episode of our Living Learning Community series, we are featuring the Arts Living Learning Community. The Arts LLC focuses on socially engaged art and emphasizes belonging and community for its students. My name is Andrew, and I'm going to be one of your hosts today. I'm majoring in political science, prelaw, and history, and I'm a student coordinator here at New Student Orientation.
Speaker 3:And I'm Jonah. I'm majoring in advertising management, and I'm also a student coordinator here at NSO. Thank you guys for joining us today. We're really excited to discuss the Arts Living Learning Community. But before we get into those questions, can you guys just introduce yourselves and your role at MSU?
Speaker 4:I'm David McCarthy, and I'm the director of the Arts Living Learning Community.
Speaker 5:I'm Haley Asai. I am a sophomore graphic design student in the ALLC. I sort of do a lot of internal work, that sort of stuff.
Speaker 6:Hi, I'm Lily Dixon. I'm a sophomore double majoring in public policy and arts and humanities. And I'm an ambassador for the arts living learning community. I'm also helped found and I'm the president for the Creative Collaboration with Incarcerated Youth, which is a RSO that is sponsored by the Arts Living Learning Community.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you again, and it's really nice to meet all of you and be able to speak to you today. Could you tell us a little bit about what the Arts LLC community is? And then what majors can participate in the LLC?
Speaker 4:I can start that off. The Arts Living Learning Community is a residential option, meaning that students live, together in Snyder Hall, which is right in the middle of the Arts Corridor. So if you're taking arts related classes, that's generally where you wanna be. It's devoted to socially engaged art. So we'd look for initiatives that are focused on socially engaged art.
Speaker 4:And it's open to students in the Residential College in Arts and Humanities and the College of Arts and Letters, especially arts related majors, but not exclusively. So we have a lot of theater students, graphic design students, students with other majors in art, English, creative writing, African American and African studies, and so on.
Speaker 5:Mhmm. More than that, though, honestly, I would say that the ALLC is really this community space for like minded people to meet and gather and work on those projects that they wanna work on, socially engaged art, theater read throughs, anything you've you're interested in, the ALLC is willing to take it up as a project.
Speaker 2:Would you be able to talk a little bit about how the arts or a LLC, sponsors RSOs on campus?
Speaker 6:Sure. So, my RSO works, we go to the local youth incarcerated center and do arts programming with them. And it wouldn't be possible without the arts living learning community. So they help us with transportation. They help us with funding for supplies.
Speaker 6:They help us coordinate guest artists. And so like Haley said, they're very helpful in things that you're passionate about and helping supporting those through different ways, that be funding or transportation.
Speaker 2:Alright. Awesome. That is really interesting. Thank you.
Speaker 3:What is the difference between the Residential College for Arts and Humanities or ARCA and the Arts LLC? Is there an overlap between the two programs?
Speaker 4:I can start off on that one again. The Residential College in Arts and Humanities is a college. It's a degree granting program. All the students in that program get the same major, the arts and humanities major. The arts living learning community is open to those students in ARCA, but it's also open to students in other majors.
Speaker 4:And we don't grant a degree. We're going to offer a small one credit course this fall, but there's not a curricular component per se. It's largely for things that you can do for experiential learning or community building outside of your regular classes. And we have representatives of both the College of Arts and Letters and ARCA here. So you two could maybe talk a little bit more about how you think about ARCA and maybe about your program, Haley, in the College of Arts and Letters.
Speaker 6:Yeah, sure. So I am a student in ARCA and the LLC. And something I really like about being in both is that ARCA is like a very small liberal arts college. There's about less than 50 people in my class. And as much as like in all my classes, I know someone.
Speaker 6:It's also nice to also be in an environment with other arts engaged people that are not just Arca. So it's a way for me to meet people from other majors and other backgrounds. And so that's a cool element. If you're in Arca, you're automatically in the arts living learning community. And it's just a way for other resources, other events.
Speaker 6:And it's a great way. It's there's no extra registration for it. And so it's a really easy way to be part of more things outside of my college.
Speaker 5:So as a student in Cal, I would say that Cal is mainly composed of a whole bunch of different departments, like you have the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics, the Art Department. And so what the ALLC does is it takes people from across these departments and people in ARCA, and it brings them all together through a shared interest. It's really nice because you get cross collaboration in ways you maybe wouldn't currently just by being in the department. You're really meeting all these people with a broad range of interests, and then on top of that, you are at what I believe is the heart of the Arts Corridor at MSU. There's so many amazing resources in the Snyder Phillips Building.
Speaker 2:Alright. And then you touched on this a little bit, but are there any extra application steps or how do you join the Arts LLC? Can you join throughout college or just in your semester here at MSU?
Speaker 4:For students in the Residential College in Arts and Humanities, you're essentially automatically in the same living space as us, and it's just a matter of walking down and getting involved in some of our programming. For students in Cal, it is necessary to fill out a very brief application where generally if you wanna join, we wanna have you. You can visit our website artsliving.msu.edu. You could reach out to me directly or you could just fill out the form right there. Our deadline is usually relatively early and we really advise students who are thinking about coming to MSU to just apply as soon as you think that you might be interested.
Speaker 4:There's no deposit or any kind of penalty if you decide not to go later on. Now, that is for the residential portion of our program. We do have students who live elsewhere on campus and are not living in Snyder Hall with us, but who still get involved in various programs that we offer. And we are open to students in all majors. Any MSU student is welcome and encouraged to come down and get involved in our other programs.
Speaker 4:And that's really just a matter of finding out when they're taking place and then coming down and getting in touch with us.
Speaker 3:So you had mentioned that there's a lot of resources in Snyder Phillips Hall. What would be some of the benefits of living there?
Speaker 5:Yeah, absolutely. So for me as a Cal student, I tend to find that my classes are generally around that area right near Snyder Phillips. So it sort of ensures that my walk to class when I'm taking classes within the College of Arts and Letters is typically no more than ten minutes, but usually closer to five. On top of that, there's already a ton of amazing resources that exist, just to name a few in Snyder Phillips. There's an art studio and a fully functioning letterpress studio in the basement that I'm hugely involved in.
Speaker 5:There's a media center, so you can check out video equipment. There's the Adobe Suite on computers. There's instruments and practice rooms, recording studios for you to use. And there's also a wonderful gallery space up on the Second Floor that overlooks the dining hall. And sometimes they'll bring in guest artists, but oftentimes they also allow students to display work in there.
Speaker 6:Yeah. As someone in Arca, I automatically live in Snyder Hall, but I have friends who are not in Arca, but are just, like, amazed by all the resources in the building. And so I think it's a great option if, a liberal arts arts and amazing degree is in your interest, but you still are interested in all the resources and interested in arts related programming, being in the Arts Living Learning Community gives you all those resources by living in that building.
Speaker 2:Alright. That is awesome. I remember when I lived on campus, Snyder Phillips also had my favorite food at their dining hall in my personal opinion. So Great
Speaker 3:dining hall.
Speaker 2:Great dining hall. Yeah. What other resources are available at the Arts LLC? And then do you have to live there to be a part of the LLC?
Speaker 6:So you do not need to live there to be a part of it. And some other really great resources in the building that we didn't touch on yet is there's a music recording studio filled with all different types of equipment. So, I'm a bassist. I'm in the, orchestra here on campus, but I also like to play like jazz and more contemporary music. And so we have a house band, which is for the arts living learning community and also ARCA.
Speaker 6:We don't necessarily have to be part of either. It's just it's really convenient that we practice in that building. So if you are part of the arts living learning community, you can be down there and practice. We have people from all different majors there and we just all come together with an interest of playing music. We bring in different music every week.
Speaker 6:It's a good time. We also depending on certain RSO, so like my RSO, we meet and leave from Snyder Hall every week. And so a lot of the organizations that are incorporated with the LLC depart from Snyder Hall.
Speaker 5:Yeah, absolutely. The printing, the letterpress printing that I was, I mentioned earlier that I mentioned I was involved with, we're really using that art studio as a launching space, a meeting space for that, primarily because all the equipment is down there, but also because it's sort of this hub for people to meet on campus and go and work. And there's also a ton of free resources that are already in the art studio for students to use. So we like to take advantage of those as well.
Speaker 4:We may have, to some extent, already mentioned this, but it really is prime real estate if you're interested in the arts. If you're gonna go to an arts related class, it's almost certainly gonna be very, very close, which can make a big difference if you have a cold winter like we just did. We're also really close to the Broad Art Museum, to the Wharton Center. When there's art stuff happening, you get really good access to it from Snyder Hall.
Speaker 3:So with all those great resources and opportunities, what would you say is the biggest benefit to being in the Arts LLC?
Speaker 6:So I think like I've already touched on, my RSO wouldn't be here today without the Arts Living Learning Community. I was encouraged by the LLC to start it and we're supported by it. We meet every week. Not only we depart from the building, like I said, but we have all of our weekly planning meetings in the art studio. I just love being in those environments.
Speaker 6:Like for example, the art studio, even if you're not have a meeting there, people just are always in there hanging out, especially Arca members as well. And you just go in there and work on an art project. You don't even have to do art. You can just hang out there, have a really good time. I think all those spaces we talked about are really uplifting and supportive.
Speaker 6:And they also like if there's anything you want to work on like letterpress or Photoshop, like there's always people in there to help you with those. So I just think it's a really encouraging environment and I really love being in those spaces.
Speaker 5:Yeah, absolutely. I would have to totally agree with that. The art studio is just a fantastic space. I think for me, I've gotten so much out of the LLC, it's almost hard to quantify just how much it's given to me because it's truly changed the scope of my college career. For one, I've gotten a lot sort of working with the other students, partially managing them in some ways.
Speaker 5:I've really done a lot of stuff, planning workshops, arranging meetings for administrative purposes, doing like the nitty gritty administrative work. It's really allowed me to sort of dip my toes into the world of arts management almost a little bit. And also, it's helped me build connections, not only on campus, but in the greater Lansing Lansing area. Just the other week, we took a trip to the Allen Neighborhood Community Center, and we got a tour. We saw their space.
Speaker 5:It was fantastic. And now we're looking forward to working with them moving forward as a community partner, which is super exciting.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. I think you two have put it very well. I would say there's a lot of pressures in our society for people to be very individualistic. I think every artist knows that you have to be individualistic. You need time by yourself.
Speaker 4:But I think a big part of the arts is collaborating with others, meeting other people, being able to meet other people's needs. And we create, I think, plenty of spaces for people to get to know other students, to get to know guest artists, to get to know faculty in an environment outside of the classroom. It's really a great way to get plugged in and get some real life experience doing the kinds of things that people who are interested in art are gonna want to do later in their life.
Speaker 2:So specifically mentioning our new incoming students, what's one thing you all think every new student should take away or take advantage of in their year in the program?
Speaker 5:Well, I might be a little bit biased here, but absolutely, I say give letterpress printing a shot. As a graphic design major, you know, I was always sort of interested in the idea of, like, the old fashioned sort of old timey printing methods, but something just absolutely clicked when I tried it for the time. The experience was honestly a little bit cheesy to say this, but it was kind of magical. It's really just a transcendent experience, sort of working the press, setting up the letters. And, you know, it's a craft that's not necessarily available in a lot of other spaces at a lot of other colleges.
Speaker 5:It's really special that it's fostered here. And so I say absolutely give it a shot. We're working on growing our program after we had a really successful year. So hopefully there's more to say upcoming in the future.
Speaker 6:Yeah. And this is pretty generic, but I would really just say try everything. I mean, in my week on campus as a freshman, Doctor. David McCarthy encouraged me to go to the Youth Detention Center and I really had no idea what to expect. He thought I should go due to my interest in music and the arts.
Speaker 6:And it was just, it was an incredible experience. And here I am now going doing conducting twice weekly arts programming there. I mean, I wouldn't have ever done that if I didn't give it a try. I also think, although I'm not necessarily a visual artist or a visual art major, I really love doing art. And so I did like a Risograph workshop, come to find out I love making Risograph posters.
Speaker 6:I just think it's really cool that you should just try anything that might pique your interest, especially if you live in the building, it's so easy to access those. And so, yeah, I see there's posters everywhere for all different types of events. And I would just say try them all out. Absolutely.
Speaker 4:I think I'll just try to underscore that. I think that is the right choice. We try to offer low key opportunities. You can do it when you have a little bit of free time, you can meet with other students. A lot of the stuff that we're doing is actually just really, really fun.
Speaker 4:But in the meantime, it can open up really incredible doors, like going to the juvenile detention facility and discovering you have a passion for working with incarcerated youth, and then discovering all these opportunities to build up that program and really do meaningful meaningful work that then can also be stuff that you carry with you as experiences and that you can talk about in cover letters and put on CVs and just really apply later on in your career. So get involved even if it's minimal. You never know when you're gonna fall in love is something that is worth bearing in mind. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Sounds like there's quite a bit of diversity in what the Arts LLC has to offer. But what is your favorite part about working with or being in the Arts LLC?
Speaker 4:My favorite part, and this sounds a little cliche, but it is so true, my favorite part is working with the students. I teach college classes. I get to work with students in classrooms. It's a different environment working with students outside of the classroom. I get to know students over a longer period of time.
Speaker 4:Both Haley and Lily, I've been working with you continuously since you arrived at MSU. I get to develop relationships with you. I get to solve problems with you. I get to learn a lot. It's really energizing to be surrounded by creative, energetic, passionate students who are solving real world problems and learning and growing.
Speaker 5:Yeah. I guess I'll just take this minute to sort of reflect back on my experience and my journey printing with the LLC. So I began they offered a printing internship over the summer last year, which I took, which meant that I stayed here for a month straight. And I worked on sort of getting the type shop running back after COVID. And then from there, I went home and did some of my own work and designs.
Speaker 5:From there in the fall, I went on to continue weekly programming and sort of these print workshops. And then we met and worked with the art department to bring one of the most prolific living printers today, Amos Kennedy Jr, on a week long residency. And that residency was beyond magical. Over the course of the year, he sort of became my personal hero. I just got to sort of hang out with him all week.
Speaker 5:We did a lot of lunches, went to his lectures, ran workshops, even some at the juvenile detention center with Lily. That was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, and it really affirmed how much I loved printing. Now, I just got the news yesterday that I received the scholarship to attend the National Printing Convention, so sort of reflecting back on how far I've come in a year when I had only printed a few times prior a year ago to now being selected to attend that convention. It really just goes to show how much the Arts Living Learning Community does for its students and how much it has to give to the university, the greater community, everyone, honestly.
Speaker 6:Yeah, sure. I'll keep mine short and sweet. But honestly, it's the resources. I mean, whatever you have a passion in, the Arts Living Learning Community is here to help you with that, whether that be letterpressing or arts programming with incarcerated youth. I mean, they're here to help you and support you, and you just don't see that in a lot of places.
Speaker 6:And I just think that it's something that's so incredible and unique. And I encourage anyone that has a passion and it's arts related or socially engaged that they're here to help you and support you. And I just love having that support.
Speaker 2:On behalf of New Student Orientation, thank you all for joining us today. I just want to say it's amazing to find your passion in college and be able to find a community that you really care for. So thank you so much for sharing that with us today. Tune in next time when we speak to the Honors College.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Spartan orientation station on Impact eighty nine FM. Let us know what you think by connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram at MSU underscore NSO.